Interesting article about Miers

[KingFlorez]

'The Right Result' Was Key to Miers
In Dallas, She Made A Name for Candor

DALLAS, Oct. 7 -- This city was already on edge, divided along racial and class lines over how to desegregate public housing, under court order to change an election system that kept minorities out of power, and seething from a series of police shootings that killed innocent blacks.

So when a black county commissioner was arrested after a physical altercation with an off-duty police officer who allegedly had spat a racial slur at him, more than 1,000 demonstrators marched on City Hall. Many feared violence until Harriet Miers, a first-term City Council member and local lawyer, spoke to the crowd.

"If it means anything to you, I want to apologize," Miers said in her native Texas drawl. "I want to apologize to the African American community of this city for an unprovoked and unexcusable attack on one of their elected leaders."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/07/AR2005100701813.html

[KingFlorez]

1. Another article

http://www.dallasnews.com/s/dws/news/dmn/stories/100805dnnatmierscouncil.225cd258.html

As a Dallas City Council member, Harriet Miers almost always voted with the relatively conservative majority, rarely launched into fiery oratory and, toward the end of her term, often missed votes or entire meetings altogether.

But her soft-spoken demeanor belied her resolve.

President Bush's Supreme Court choice nominated an openly gay man to a powerful city board and pushed to spend more on public housing. And when Dallas politics was roiled with racial tensions, Ms. Miers effectively sacrificed her at-large seat to make a point, lobbying to scrap the council's districting system in favor of one intended to increase black and Hispanic representation.